This invention relates to a toy baseball bat and more particularly to a ball-ejecting toy baseball bat.
In the past, it has been common in batting practice for a batter to grasp a ball, throw it into the air a short distance, and then quickly grasp the bat with both hands and assume a batting stance to hit the ball. Upon hitting the ball, the batter selects another ball off the ground or from a container on the ground and repeats the batting action.
Prior toy batting devices have attempted to eliminate the inconvenience of picking up the balls from the ground prior to each batting swing by storing the balls within a hollow chamber in the bat for sequential removal prior to each swing. Such toy bats are utilized not only for solo batting practice but for competitive games based upon fast-action, repetitious batting skills.
The prior toy bats however are inconvenient and cumbersome to use and cost prohibitive to manufacture. For example, the toy bat shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,111,314 to E. Topper utilizes a complicated spring and latching cam mechanism for ejection of the balls and requires a separating cocking operation between each batting swing. Such an ejection mechanism is cost prohibitive to manufacture in the competitive toy market and the cocking operation is disruptive to fast-action, repetitious batting.
Other toy bats such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,521 to P. Knott and U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,387 to S. Weinstein utilize pneumatic-type ejection mechanism for ejecting the balls axially from the hitting end of the toy bat. Such ejection mechanisms are costly and less durable while axial ejection is somewhat inconvenient for fast-action, repetitious batting.
In a ball-ejecting toy baseball bat, it is desirable to attain expeditious sequential ejection of the balls without inefficient and inconvenient cocking operations. Additionally, it is also desirable that the bat ejection position be expedient to fast-action, repetitive batting with a proper batting stance and that the toy bat be economical to manufacture.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ball-ejecting toy baseball bat that permits sequential ball ejection without a disruptive cocking operation.
It is another object of the invention to provide a ball-ejecting toy bat which is economical to manufacture with a limited number of operational parts and which is durable in use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a ball-ejection toy bat which is easy and efficient to use and conducive to fast-action, repetitious batting.
It has been found that the foregoing and related objects can be obtained in a toy baseball bat device which includes an elongated member having an exterior configuration in the form of a baseball bat of cylindrical cross section with a smaller diameter handle end portion and an oppositely disposed larger diameter hitting end portion. The hitting end portion forms an interior chamber for housing a plurality of balls and has a radially disposed ejection aperture adapted to allow ejection of a ball radially outwardly from the interior chamber. A guide directs the balls to a ball support element for supporting an individual ball at a predetermined position in alignment with the ejection aperture. A striker element is pivotally mounted within the chamber for pivotal movement between first and second positions so as to strike a ball mounted on the support element as the striker element pivots towards the first position to drive the ball radially outwardly through the ejection aperture. A torsion spring is connected to the striker element for normally biasing the striker element towards the first position to propel the striker element towards the first position to strike the ball mounted on the support element. A trigger assembly is operationally connected to the striker element for momentarily withdrawing the striker element towards the second position against the biasing force of the torsion spring and for abruptly releasing the striker element whereby the biasing force of the torsion spring pivots the striker element towards the first position to drive a ball radially outwardly through the ejection aperture.